Santa Cruz Bikes UK

NEWS

Minnaar 3rd At Schladming World Cup Finals, Syndicate #1 Team

21st
SEP
2009

Schladming, Austria

It was a great showdown and an amazing end to the 2009 UCI World Cup Downhill Series in Schladming, Austria, as it came down to four racers in contention for the overall title

World Cup Rnd 8 2009

In the end Sam Hill won the race, and the overall, with Santa Cruz Syndicate's Greg Minnaar and Steve Peat (SRAM/RockShox) giving chase and placing 2nd and 3rd overall, respectively. Josh Bryceland pulled out a great run to finish the race in 8th place, just .02 seconds behind teammate Steve Peat who struggled to find his rhythm and placed 7th on the day. Minnaar focused on his performance and came back solid, if a little conservative, from his major stack in his qualifier, and placed 3rd. Their efforts boosted the team overall points to the top and the Syndicate won the best downhill team title.

World Cup Rnd 8 2009

What an incredible season the Syndicate has had finishing the world cup series in a solid 2nd, 3rd and 13th place overall, winning the team overall and Steve wearing the rainbow stripes. Going into the finals Steve donned his world championship rainbow jersey for the first time in competition. It took some getting use to, but after a few days he felt right at home in his well deserved jersey, although the first few days of practice he managed to keep it muddy as the demanding track had riders falling all over the place.

World Cup Rnd 8 2009

Going into this race Sam Hill was the favored rider and the Syndicate did their best to close the points margin. The long, physical track had the boys tired each practice day, and when qualifier day came they struggled, with a big crash from Minnaar, and a spill for Bryceland. Peat was the only one of the boys to stay upright, but his effort just got him 7th place. Course walks, and another few days of practice had the guys focused ahead for the race.

Bryceland came down and held the hotseat for a few riders until Minnaar unseated him. He held the hotseat for a half hour until Sam Blenkinsop came down and bested his time. Anxiously waiting for the arrival of Sam Hill, Minnaar and Peat had their eyes on the big screen. Sam didn't falter and took the win, and the points shook down to Minnaar in 2nd, and Peat 3rd. Bryceland felt he could have done a bit better in his race run, but was pleased to end the season with a top ten result.

World Cup Rnd 8 2009

Steve says, "It's been a hell of a year hanging out with the Syndicate! My V-10 has worked the best ever and it shows in our results. I wasn't happy with my 7th place finish in Schladming. I was happy with 3rd overall in the series, and even happier with the rainbows! I just want to say thanks to all our team sponsors for supplying the best kit to go and take on the rest of the world with."

Minnaar had this to say about the race, "I felt like I was riding good all week. My bike was handling the extremely rough course really well. I new I could qualify top 5, but at the end of the day I needed a win and that was going to be hard. I was happy with the overall result of the race and to finish 3.61 seconds behind Sam was good for me, especially on this course. Obviously I would like to have won on the day and the overall, but I'm happy with 3rd in the race, and 2nd in the series overall. Thanks to the Syndicate, our sponsors, and Doug and Kathy for a great season."

World Cup Rnd 8 2009

It has been a storybook year for the Syndicate with Greg winning 3 world cups, Steve winning 2 and making history having the most world cup downhill wins and finally winning the world championships. We look forward to racing again next year and hope to keep the success rolling.